Outward bound

We were up early and down at the pier loading up Watanga with last minute items and of course the dialysis machine, thanks to Martin and Bryon for allowing us to use their pontoon briefly.  By 8:30 we cast off, the holiday had begun. The wind forecast was perfect but as always in reality, not quite what it said it would be. The first few hours were very wild. Three reefs and beating into a SW f6 with a 3 metre breaking waves.  By the point of no return (half way) it was getting easier, we managed to get some soup down us and by the time we got to Alderney the sea was pretty flat and we were whizzing along.  

Passing Alderney

Something went wrong with my calculation of tidal streams as from Alderney onwards we never got our expected boost down to Guernsey.  The only tricky part of the journey was that I would have preferred not to go down the little Russell channel in the dark.

Nice sunset

We eventually got in at 11:30 after a very tiring 16hrs.  Straight to bed.

Olympic Torch

The OlympicTorch comes through Swanage.  A few pictures for you

Shiny new Inshore Lifeboat

Swanage gets a shiny new ILB

Summer at Last?

Well the last few days have been pretty good,  A very nice evening at the sailing club on thursday, racing cancelled unusually with zero wind. but at last a sunny summer evening.  A nice social evening with the added attraction of a visit from Graham and Wendy taking a break from their world tour.

Saturday was a damp day but the Summer shindig was a success despite the rain.

Sunday. Good wind for sailing, and an enjoyable race.

Too much then too little

Hey Ho    Yesterdays race abandoned again,  this time No Wind.    Graham and Wendy visiting on holiday from their Holiday.    Last chance to get everything sorted out for the Atlantic crossing in November.  

Race abandonments

In the last 10 days we have had 3 races abandoned or cut short through too much wind.  Everyone wants to get on the water but we are braving bigger winds than we would normally because we have missed so many races to the weather.

House maintenance

With the weather as it is,  Totally unpredictable and always at an extreme (Dead Flat or a gale). Watanga hasn't been anywhere.  I check the mooring line every couple of days and thats about it.  We decided that house maintenance would be a good alternative to bumming about, so have started on the external window frames in good weather and redecorating the the spare bedroom when it's not.

Drive leg repairs

Got the lift out yesterday, As I have already done this job before it was a relatively easy job to do and took about 2 hours,  It would have been quicker if the pins had come out without a fight.   Considering how much grease I put on them and all the attempts to stop corrosion I'm still surprised at the speed at which things seize up.

Still a nice new functioning drive leg.  Always a good thing.

Another trip to the boatyard.

It's not been a good week for finance.  Twice this week I've had separate bank accounts defrauded. a spate of bills for Moorings,  berthing at Poole, barclaycard etc,  and now Watanga has a broken casting on the drive leg necessitating a lift out and an expensive part.   I think I need a job to pay for all this?

Ho Hum

Never a Dull Moment

Ok so now it's the second week in June and there's another gale on the way,  part of it from a south east / easterly direction.   This is getting really silly.  Just took a look at her from the shore SE 4/5 and shes already bucking around.   Going up to f7/8 before veering to the SW during the night.  

No racing at the club tonight, I'm guessing!

Home again

Yarmouth to Swanage with a following easterly,  not a bad sail but cold and wet. Despite calls ahead to check state of the bay and being assured that it was flat, something must have changed in the last hour or so of our journey, because it was lumpy. 

We took just the essentials and got a soaking when coming ashore.  Luckily I have an "Overboard" waterproof bag for the computer as it was floating in the bottom of the dinghy after a swamping.   I don't think it would have stayed watertight for long though as there was evidence of water inside.  Still no damage.

Went back today in slightly calmer weather to bring the rest of the gear ashore.   

After spending some time on Thursday removing and then resealing the hand rail on the roof I was surprised to find that the leak I have hasn't been stopped.   I'm running out of things to seal that are anywhere near the drip point!

Planning the return journey

We're still in Yarmouth,  and spent yesterday leisurely going round the shops having tea etc.  It was very windy, nothing to be seen on the solent except waves, Even the wight ferry was on a restricted service.   We bought some local caught crab and went to Sorrento for Evening meal and drinks.  I think we came back to Watanga around 0300. 

After a late start today we made a plan for our return, which will be tommorrow afternoon.



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Why we didn't go



I want that one

Stormbound in Yarmouth

Thursday starts wet and miserable but undetered we shared a full english breakfast donned our wet weather gear and headed for the bus station.  Got a great deal with a group ticket, unlimited travel all day for £20. Visited Cowes, (wet) Ryde, (sunny) Shanklin (briefly) and on to Ventnor (windy) for a fish and chip takeaway supper.  Back on the bus for the ride home.   The wind now is about a f7 and increasing so a quick bit of tidying up of the shore lines and then to bed.  Lou starts her second nocturnal treatment,  With the wind during the night exceeding 40knots it was a tad noisy,  a banshee of shrieks from all the boats in the marina, the boat trembling and rocking on its berth, not much sleep this night.

Holiday

As always with sailing you are at the beck and call of the wind and the tides.  Our intention at the start of the week was to sail to Torquay, spend two or three days exploring the Devonian coastline then back home across Lyme Bay at the end of the week. 

We travelled in company with Adrian and Jayne on Sorrento with a light wind and fair tide. Forecast for the week started to look bad for the latter end, with a large storm arriving.   We made a plan that we would stay in Weymouth on tuesday as it was going to be a very wet day anyway and a passage would have been miserable. This would give us a chance to reassess the weather situation at the end of the day.
With a quite vicious storm on the way we decided that we didn't want to be stuck at the other end of Lyme Bay when it hit.  An early start for passage to Yarmouth (closer to home) was the plan.

Tuesday night, Lou completed her first nocturnal treatment on the boat.

It was an early start Wednesday and a fast downwind sail to Yarmouth,  arriving just as the wind was freshening.  "Collective Spirit" the Boat Project boat sailed past and we got a a few pictures, later it was moored in Yarmouth and we had a chat and took a few more pictures.

   

Same old

May has been and gone and I'm still here complaining about the easterly weather patterns.  I do feel sorry for the Divers and the Fishing guys in the bay as most of these bouts of bad weather have come at the weekends.  This coming Saturday and Sunday are no exception.  On the good side the weather in between times has been hot and Sunny.

Easterlies

Ever since the drought in the south was announced it has been raining. Now I don't mind a bit of rain, but what is worse is the procession of low pressure weather systems running up the English Channel. These  create lots of storms and easterly winds keeping us off our usual mooring. Most inconvenient!

It's also not good for the diving and fishing trades in Swanage making it a hard start to their season.

Whoo hoo Back in the water.  

Booo Hoo lots of bad weather forcing expensive stay in Poole

New Year.

Day one was a bit of a damp squib, with most people recovering from the festivities a nice walk on the first day of the year is always welcome.  Constant rain put the mockers on that (What is a mocker).  So a lazy day watching the telly.

I was sad to read this morning that the Celebrations were tainted by violence and that a young lad is now in hospital with head injuries after a fight in the town in the early morning of the new year. 
Now I have no knowledge of what happened and I have no want to condone fighting, but it occurs to me that when I was young that if there was a fight we used our fists and once one or other of us was knocked down that was pretty much it. 

The fashion in the film industry to finish people off with a kick to the head, or any other part of the body for that matter seems to have instilled itself into modern day culture.  Unlike in the films where hero's and villains just get back up,  blows to the head with a boot are likely to cause serious damage.  I don't thick there is that much malice in most people they are just conditioned to think that it is a survivable part of fighting.

I hope the lad is OK.

Couldn't get to the boat this week because of other commitments.  Which is a shame because the weather has now turned and it;s really cold all of a sudden.  Reminder to self - winterise the engine !!  Spent this week catching up with stuff at home.  Actually got the christmas tree yesterday, can't believe it's only 3 weeks to Christmas!

I have spent last week getting items off the boat, well the stuff that goes mouldy if you leave it.  Also made sure there was no water left in the piping as I had some damage last year with bits freezing.  ( One tap and the water filter both burst)  Weather so far has been warm so not really a problem yet.

Must make a battle plan for this year maintenance program.

Bringing the teak trim back to it's former colour is a must as it's starting to look shabby now. I also need to get a generator to run the dialysis machine next year.